Because baseball is a popular sport, young children learn to play this sport in the organized "Pony League" and "Little League" teams. These players need to develop a proficiency at batting and such development can be achieved only by practice. Sufficient practice is difficult to achieve because of the lack of area, personnel and equipment. Batting practice devices using a baseball secured to the end of a cord have been proposed which allows the ball to be swung along a circular path by the cord so that the hitter can try to hit the ball. While such devices allow the batting practice to be accomplished in a relatively small area, difficulties have been encountered in keeping the ball secured to the cord while at the same time causing the ball to have substantially the same flight characteristics as a pitched baseball.